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Dumplings on Custard Dough (Without Eggs)
Instructions
Sift the flour into a deep mixing bowl through a fine-mesh sieve.
Prepare the water and milk in equal volumes, the salt, and the vegetable oil ready for the next step.
Pour the water and milk into a small saucepan and heat to boiling.
While the liquid ingredients are heating, add salt to the sifted flour.
Mix the flour. You can also add salt to the liquid ingredients instead, it's up to your discretion.
Using a spatula, make a well in the centre of the flour, into which add the vegetable oil.
Once the milk and water have boiled well, pour the boiling liquid into the oil, into the flour well.
Using a wooden spoon, knead the dough together. At first glance, it seems that the dough is too stiff and there is not enough liquid. But you need to continue kneading the dough and not add anything extra.
As soon as the dough cools down a bit (remember that we added boiling water to it), start kneading it with your clean hands. In a minute or so, gather the dough into a smooth ball.
Continue kneading the dough on the work surface, do not sprinkle flour on the table, since it does not stick at all.
Knead the dough for five to seven minutes total, cover it with a bowl, and leave it right on the table for about thirty minutes to rest properly.
Prepare the meat filling. Grind the meat in a meat grinder, finely chop the onion. If you also grind the onion in the meat grinder, the filling will become disappointingly thin and will not hold its shape properly.
Add the chopped onion to the filling, you will need black ground pepper and salt for seasoning. Mix the filling well together with clean hands.
Return to the dough. It has rested for half an hour under the bowl, becoming properly soft and elastic. There is no need to knead the dough again, just shape it into a "sausage."
Dumplings with choux pastry can be shaped in various ways. Some housewives roll out the dough into one thin layer, using a round cutter or a thin glass to cut out the blanks. But in this option, a lot of excess dough is produced, which needs to be rolled out and cut into circles again. This way, the second dough becomes tough, and accordingly, the dumplings will be hard. We will cut circles directly from the "sausage."
Flatten them on the work surface and shape with a round cutter.
Using a rolling pin, roll our blanks thinly into proper dumpling rounds.
Place the prepared meat filling on each blank.
Approximately a teaspoon of filling is placed in the middle of each dough round.
You need to tightly seal the edges of the dough, exactly like a regular dumpling, only smaller in size.
Take two edges and press them together, pinching the edges firmly. We have a neat finished dumpling.
Shape dumplings from all the dough. Place them on a cutting board, sending part to the freezer for freezing. We will boil part immediately, checking how our dough behaves during cooking.
A few secrets to properly boil dumplings. First — fill a pot with plenty of water so the dumplings have enough space. Second — salt the water and let it come to a rolling boil. Third — using a spoon, create a whirlpool in the water, add the dumplings one by one while the water is swirling, this way the dumplings will never stick together. If the whirlpool has disappeared, carefully repeat this technique with the spoon. Fourth — the dumplings should rise to the surface and boil for a few minutes total, only then will they be properly ready and can be lifted out of the pot.Our dumplings are now properly cooked. Serve the homemade dumplings with custard dough alongside sour cream and fresh herbs. The table must have salt, pepper, and vinegar available.
Tips
- 1
Use boiling-hot liquid for the choux pastry rather than warm liquid, since the boiling temperature properly cooks the starches in the flour and produces the characteristic elastic stretchy finished dough that defines the choux-pastry style of dumpling. The brief patience for boiling the liquid genuinely matters for the most beautifully workable finished dough every single time at home.
- 2
Chop the onion finely with a knife rather than grinding it in a meat grinder with the meat, since hand-chopped onion retains small textural pieces that hold the filling together properly. To pair these beautifully tender homemade dumplings with another properly classic homemade Russian-cuisine recipe for a complete dinner menu, try our beautifully traditional rassolnik with barley and pickled cucumbers classic recipe as a hearty soup starter.
- 3
Let the dough rest for the full 30 minutes before shaping, since the rest properly relaxes the gluten and produces noticeably more workable finished dough that rolls easily without springing back. The brief patience for proper resting genuinely matters for the most beautifully thin finished dumpling wrappers every single time. Cover with a damp cloth during the rest to prevent drying.
- 4
Freeze extra dumplings on a tray first before transferring to bags, since this two-stage freezing prevents them from sticking together into one frozen lump. For another properly classic homemade Russian-cuisine recipe to add variety to your weekly menu, try our beautifully tender meatballs with gravy in a multicooker-pressure cooker as a heartier sauce-based alternative for properly satisfying weeknight dinners.
FAQ
Why use choux pastry instead of regular dumpling dough? +
Choux pastry produces a noticeably more elastic stretchy finished dough that is easier to roll thin and seals more reliably during boiling, with significantly less risk of tearing during the cooking. The boiling-hot liquid technique gelatinizes the starches and creates a properly cohesive workable dough without requiring eggs, which makes this version suitable for vegetarians or those with egg allergies. The finished cooked dumplings have a properly silky tender finished texture that many cooks prefer over the standard egg-based dumpling dough version.
Can I use only beef or only pork? +
Yes, both pure beef mince and pure pork mince work absolutely brilliantly as substitutes for the 50/50 mix in this recipe. Pure beef produces a leaner finished result with a noticeably stronger meat flavour, while pure pork gives a richer fattier finished result that some prefer. The 50/50 mix balances these characteristics for the most properly traditional Russian-style finished dumpling. Lamb mince also works as an interesting alternative for properly different finished flavour profiles in the bowl.
How long do these dumplings keep? +
Frozen unboiled dumplings keep beautifully for up to three months in airtight freezer bags. Boil the dumplings directly from the freezer without any pre-thawing for the best finished texture, just adding a couple of extra minutes to the total cooking time. Cooked dumplings should be eaten within the same day for the best finished texture, since the boiled dough becomes noticeably gummy in the refrigerator. The frozen unboiled version is genuinely the best storage approach for the freshest possible finished result.
What sauces pair well with these dumplings? +
Traditional Russian dumplings are most classically served with sour cream, melted butter, white vinegar, plus chopped fresh dill or parsley. Other popular accompaniments include soy sauce mixed with sesame oil and chili (for an Asian fusion twist), tomato-based sauces, garlic-mushroom sauce, melted cheese, or even a simple drizzle of fresh lemon juice with cracked black pepper. Each sauce brings its own character to the bowl. Try several different sauces alongside one batch for a properly varied finished tasting experience.
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